Born in Stockholm on the 25th February, 1947. He studied painting in the early 70s before studying at EMS (Institute for Electro-Acoustic Music in Sweden) in Stockholm with Rolf Enström and Jan W Morthenson.
Tankred is interested in musical encounters with other art forms, particularly pictorial art, which has resulted in fusions where his music has also functioned as installations at exhibitions. The multislide presentation Riot which was shown in Berlin in 1988 was created in collaboration with the graphic artist Leif Elggren. Tankred and Elggren work together on a regular basis as a performance duo, calling themselves The Sons of God. Tankred aims to strengthen the ties between music, movement and image and also to avoid conventional forms of expression. He often uses a “Concresizer“, a kind of instrument which he has constructed himself which controls different types of sound sculptures from a keyboard.
Kent Tankred was elected president of the Fylkingen Concert Society in 1993.